The Pack
by synysterrain
Summary: A small pack of wolves. A long journey. Dangerous paths. Only one wolf can lead them. Will it be Talon, the strongest of the group? Or will it be Storm, the bravest of them all? Only fate can decide.


**_Hi :) this is going to be my first ever story on Fanfiction! I hope you will all enjoy reading my stories. I don't think I'm that good but I'd appreciate it if you told me what you think :) I don't really know how this works, so bear with me. Well, here I go! Wish me luck :]_**

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My head began to spin as I ran towards the mass of woods in front of me. I tilted my head back and yowled at the full moon in the sky. There was a gust of wind that brought along a strong scent of blood. My head shifted to the right. It wasn't time, but I could use a good hunt. Moving towards the center of the woods, the scent became much stronger. I had never tasted deer before, and if I could catch it, this would be my best meal in a while. The sound of the deer's hooves against the fallen leaves led me right to it. I stalked it silently, keeping my tail straight. Just one more paw step and I would have the deer in my jaws. A sound from behind me startled the deer, and caused it to dash off. I started to chase it when I heard a low growl from behind me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"What do you think you're doing? You know you can't hunt alone. It's not safe."

I bared my teeth and snarled at Talon. "I need to feed the pack."

"What pack?! There are only five of us left, not including us, after most of the pack went out to hunt and never came back! And you know it's against the code to hunt on your own."

"I could have caught that deer and fed most of the pack! You know how tough it is to catch decent food here. But we can't leave because you insist that we wait out the year and see if anyone returns."

"Rain, you know that you're one of the youngest ones left. We can't afford to lose you now." Talon rested his muzzle on the top of my head.

"Come on. Let's go home." He said to me gently.

I dipped my head to him and said "okay." We headed towards the edge of the woods and up the hill I had run down earlier. Our cave up the hill was guarded by Stone. I nodded a greeting to her and entered the cave. The rest of the pack had sorted out into a group of three to go hunting. The hunting group included Fang, River, and Storm. Slate, being the youngest, was not allowed to hunt in the woods yet. He had curled up beside the wall of the cave, his tail resting over the tip of his nose.

Storm stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air before he led the rest of the hunting patrol out into the woods. He turned around to me and nodded, a silent promise to me that he would return home. I lifted a paw to wish him farewell and rested my head on a rock beside me.

The sound of the patrol returning woke me from my slumber. I lifted my head and checked to see that Storm had returned as he said he would. When I didn't see him, I sat up and signaled for River to come over to me.

"Where's Storm?" I asked her, trying to hide the fact that I was worried about him.

She cocked her head to the right and said "He's on the night patrol. You have the morning one, so I hope you'll be well rested for it." She turned around and lay next to Slate, licking the top of his head gently. The two of them had been inseparable since they had been pups together. Both their parents had been one of the lost hunting group.

I headed towards the cave entrance to see Storm. He looked at me and started to wag his tail.

"Hi, Rain."

"Hi Storm! Is it safe to come out of the cave?"

"Yes, it is. There isn't anything or anyone roaming in our territory tonight. It's really boring lately. I remember when there used to be wild fights..." Storm looked off into the distance.

"You aren't old enough to remember that stuff happening! You were just a pup!"

"But I do remember my father coming back from those battles and I would stay up all night asking him questions about them. He would tell me 'Storm, you will have your chance to be in a battle one day. And when that day comes, you'll know the answers to all of your questions.' I would always insist that I would never be able to fight as well as him. I miss him..."

"I know. I miss my father and mother too." I rested my head on Storm's shoulder. His soft, white fur had specks of black and silver-grey in it. That was why his parents named him Storm. His fur looked like a storm of colors that had erupted from a volcano. My fur, on the other hand, is plain black with only a few specks of white at the tail tip and I have one white paw.

Storm looked at me and tilted his head to the right. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you look in the moonlight?"

I turned my head to the side and started to stand up. "I should be going to bed now. I have the morning watch. Goodnight, Storm."

I saw Storm try to say something back to me, but he stopped himself. Sure, i have feelings for him, but it wasn't the right time for me to get too attached to someone. I lay down on the cold stone and rested my head on my front paws. The rock I was laying on was so cold that my tail went stiff and my teeth started to chatter. But I closed my eyes anyway and fell asleep quickly.

I awoke to someone prodding my shoulder with their paw. I lifted my head up and saw Storm standing over me. I got up and, without a word to Storm, walked to the entrance of the cave to start my watch. When I sat down, I could see the sunrise coming over the trees. A soft wind blew scents of many animals. I picked up a stale trace of the deer I almost caught last night. I grunted with regret in not being able to catch it for last night's meal. When I thought about it, I realized that I hadn't eaten anything for dinner. I paced around the watching area, hoping someone would notice me.

I heard paw steps inside the cave. I looked inside the cave and saw River going out to the back of the cave. I waited for her to return and called her over with a flick of my tail. Her moon-white coat was smooth as usual, the envy of the entire clan.

"Yes?" She asked me in between a yawn.

"Can you take up my post so I can eat something? I didn't have anything for dinner."

"Sure! Oh, and don't wake Talon. He'll get mad at us if he catches us." She licked a forepaw before heading towards my spot.

I quickly headed over to the food pile and was once again disappointed with my findings. there were a few squirrels and rabbits in the pile. I picked up one of the plumper rabbits and sat down to eat it.

A yawn escaped my jaws when I finished up my first meal since a few hours. Standing up, I silently walked back to the watching area to see that River was still in my place. When she saw me, River stood up and headed back to the sleeping area. I thanked her silently and sat down.

The wind on the horizon had picked up and it seemed as though a storm was approaching. Sniffing the air, I sensed a thunder storm rolling in over the trees. The clouds had turned a stone-grey color; a warning sign of a big storm. It seemed like hours had passed by the time my shift was over. I walked over to Talon and woke him harshly. He stirred in his sleep, but did not open his eyes. I sighed and tried once more to wake the lump of grey fur. Still, he did not get up. I decided to take this opportunity to try and catch something for the pack. Walking outside of the cave, I quickly ran to the woods and sniffed around for something large.

I smelled a scent I didn't recognize. Walking towards it, I spotted a red tail with white at the tip of it. Storm had told me about these creatures before; he had said they were a threat to our family. Ignoring his past warnings, I stalked the strange animal silently, keeping my tail straight like I had done with the deer. I was just about to leap onto it when the creature turned around to face me. It's teeth were sharp like mine, but it's muzzle was much longer. It growled at me, and I did the same back to it. Using the skills I had learned before from my old mentor, I leaped onto the animal and flipped it onto its side. It tried to bite my neck fur, but I was too fast for it. We both tumbled over the leaves and through the trees. I bit at his hind leg. A terrifying yowl burst through his teeth, and he tried to break free. But I didn't give up the fight. As he lay there on the ground, clearly frozen in pain, I took the opportunity to attack his underbelly. Ripping my recently sharpened claws through his belly fur, I could feel my claws seeping into his skin. Pushing down harder with my legs, the animal yelped in pain, trying to get free from my grasp.

Seeing that I had the upper paw in this battle, I bit down into his neck and tasted his blood in my mouth. A small spasm erupted through his entire body, letting me know he was dead when the spasm ended. I dragged my prey up the hill, stopping in the middle to take a rest. When I entered the cave with my catch, I saw Storm starting to get up. Dropping the animal, I tried desperatly to think of a way to hide it. I was too late. Storm rushed over to me and looked at the animal, his eyes wide with worry and fear.

"What the hell are you doing with that fox?! Did it attack you? Why were you out alone? Who's watching the cave?" The questions seemed to just roll out of his mouth.

"I-I just wanted to hunt for the pack..."

Storm's gaze softened and he tried to come closer to me. "I know...You just have to ask first. You remember what happened last time, don't you?"

I nodded and looked up at him sadly. Storm came over to me and picked up the fox. "What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Taking the fox to Talon. I'm going to tell him that I saw it coming towards the cave and I killed it."

I narrowed my eyes at him "But _I_ caught it."

"But-"

I interrupted Storm "You don't smell like the fox; _I do. _It was _my _turn to be on watch. Therefore, _I _will say that I saw the fox and attacked it."

Before Storm could respond, Talon started to walk towards us. He took one look at the fox I had caught, and looked at me. Starting to open my jaws, I looked at the fox and back at Talon. "He was trying to get in the cave. I had to do _something_! I-I'm sorry I didn't come to you first."

All Talon did was nod at me and take the fox to our prey pile.

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A few days had passed sense I'd lied to Talon about the fox. It had been difficult to hide the evidence of my catch in the forest. Right now, we were out on the prowl for prey. It was my turn to hunt with River and Slate. This was his first time out hunting, and he had already caught a plump rabbit. The tree branches swayed with the wind, almost as if they were dancing. I longed to be able to roam free through the luscious, green forest.

A drop of water hit me on my nose. I looked up to see a leaf covered in drops of rain from last nights storm. The storm had blown a large tree branch into our cave. It had gone into the area where we have our pack meetings. The section of the cave was rounded and dipped down low as if someone had dug a hole into the ground. But there was no evidence of anyone digging there. The stone around it was icy cold, yet the shallow crevice remained warm.

We chose our cave because of its closeness to a river and the vastness of its neighboring forest. The river flowed right beside the cave, and went right to the edge of the forest. This made it difficult to find a drink of water while hunting, which is why we are grateful when it rains; the leaves collect the rain water and we can drink from them. I was deep in thought when I realized that there was a trace of rabbit scent coming a few paw steps away. I signaled with my tail for the rest of the patrol to halt. I nodded at River and she went on ahead to catch the prey. I watched her as she steadily moved across the forest floor, not making a sound when she stepped on the leaves. River's sleek white fur almost seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. I looked over to my right to see Slate's raven-black fur right next to me.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" He said with a loving look in his blue eyes.

"You love her, don't you?" I asked him quietly. His head turned towards me, causing a small gust of wind to hit me in my face.

"How did you know?" He seemed to be very serious as he asked me this, but I knew he was just curious.

"It's obvious. The whole pack can tell." I looked at him with compassion in my eyes, letting him know that I would not object to the two of them mating sometime in the future.

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I sat with Slate during meal time. He and I were talking about what could have happened to our parents. The conversation didn't last very long because he had gone over to sit with River. I began to think of my childhood once again, and began to realize what I had been left out of. i was always with my father, Fin, training to become a great hunter like him. I was friends with River in my younger days, but we soon grew apart because of all my training. My mother, Steel and I were not very close. Thought his may have been, I can still remember the smell of her fur when she would hold me close to belly fur as a pup. She smelled of daisies and the forest. Her smell helped me get to sleep at night. I slowly closed my eyes, trying to remember exactly what she had looked like. I saw a small female wolf standing next to me. Her fur was thick and looked like snow. Her green eyes were the same color as mine. I sighed at the image of my mother. My father, on the other hand, had raven black fur. His legs were thick and broad, and he was much taller than Steel. His blue eyes seemed to be able to pierce into the souls of his enemies. At least, the last part was what my mother used to tell me. I could still remember the stories she would tell me about Fin. He was a brave fighter, and a good one at that. HE never lost a battle, and only killed when he needed to. Fin was supposed to become the next alpha male, but he disappeared with my mother. Now, the pack was left with Talon. We hadn't decided on an official leader just yet, but Talon seemed to be the best candidate.


End file.
